Absinthe, Absinthism and Thujone - New Insight into the Spirits Impact on Public Health

Abstract

Absinthe, a strong alcoholic aperitif, is notorious for containing the compound 'thujone', which has been commonly regarded as its 'active ingredient'. It has been widely theorized that the thujone content of vintage absinthe made it harmful to public health, and caused the distinct syndrome absinthism, which was extensively described in the literature prior to the spirit's ban in 1915. The interdisciplinary research presented in this paper shows that 1) absinthism cannot be distinguished from common alcoholism in the medical research literature of the time, and that 2) due to the physical chemistry of the distillation process, the thujone content of vintage absinthe was considerably lower than previously estimated and corresponds to levels generally recognized as safe, as proven by analyses of absinthes from the pre-ban era. Due to the re-legalization of absinthe in the European Union and more recently in the United States, potential public health concerns have re-emerged, not expressly based on worries about thujone content or absinthism, but on alcohol-related harm and youth protection issues, exacerbated by marketing strategies promoting absinthe using false and discredited claims pertaining to thujone and stubbornly persistant myths.

Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.)—A curious plant with both neurotoxic and neuroprotective properties?

“…The only issue was that the dose-response relationship was largely neglected, as later investigations have shown that the wormwood content in absinthe was so negligible that the "no-effect level" in animal experiments with additional safety factors would not have been exceeded by even excessive human absinthe ingestion (Lachenmeier et al, 2008). The most plausible hypothesis today is that absinthism was just misdiagnosed alcoholism, as ethanol alone can explain all of absinthe's alleged effects (Strang et al, 1999;Padosch et al, 2006;Lachenmeier et al, 2010).…”

Attempts to separate (–)‐α‐thujone, (+)‐β‐thujone epimers from camphor enantiomers by enantioselective HPLC with polarimetric detection

“…Commercially available sources of thujones revealed that the proposed samples contain both thujones in varying proportions, and contaminated with some camphor and fenchone. On the other hand, α‐thujone 1 and β‐thujone 2 are valuable epimeric chiral monoterpene ketones that are found in varying amounts in many crude essential oils (EOs) .…”

Rapid Determination of Total Thujone in Absinthe Using 1H NMR Spectroscopy

“…Wormwood may contain the bicyclic monoterpene ketone thujone [1]. In recent years there is a discussion in the literature regarding the actual thujone content in alcoholic beverages and its impact on public health as it is often associated with the syndrome absinthism [2]. An overview of history, toxicity, and analytics of absinthe was recently provided by Lachenmeier et al [1].…”